Portugal Much in Common with Chinle...Some Not so Much

On a recent trip to Portugal I found much in common with Chinle, Arizona where I live now and that Eropean country.  OK maybe half of Portugal is bordered by the sea and I live in a desert but:Portugal

 Much of Portugal is rural.  All of Chinle is.  Both have free range live stock.

Chinle

Both have amazing sunsets:

Guess where the sun sets over the ocean?

Yep we even have shells in the desert.  Possibly a billion years old.  They are not in the water.  Portugal?  They can be in water or on white sand beaches.

Wind and windmills?  Check.  Dust?  Not so much in Portugal.

Chinle not so old, not so new.

Portugal old and new.

Sheep?  Pretty much the same.  Loved and used for wool.  An age old tradition in both places.  In both places the tradition captures my imagination.

Portugal

Chinle

Great Hiking everywhere  Portugal or Chinle.

OK this is nearby Chinle but we have the Canyon de Chelly too.

Portugal has it all...trails to the beach.

and inland.  Or wait this might be the southwest.

There are even ladders for the steep bits.

Down to the ocean.

 Into the Canyon.

Just as much sand in Portugal as there is in the desert.

It just doesn't pile up on the window sills or creep under the door or block out the view of the house next door in a storm.

Cactus in Portugal?(above)  I managed to tame this yellow cactus from up on the mesa and get it to bloom in my Chinle garden.  They grow wild in Portugal too.

No hogans in Portugal but lots of tiled roofs...no sidewalks in Chinle.  In Portugal they are all mosaic.

So what did I learn from this trip?  I could be living in Europe right here in Chinle?

Not quite!

 But with a cup of coffee at Changing Woman Cafe  http://changingwomancafe.com/ down the road(Not exactly your European cafe)

and a can of sardines from the local Bashas grocery...maybe I can pretend.

Chinle will never have the ocean although maybe a few billion years ago it did.  And I will always be a beach and sea kind of gal.  I love the energy of the ocean.  Give it to me rough or calm.

But I have found some peace here and lots of friendships.  The mesa has become my beach, the big sky my ocean.  Portugal is for journeying and learning a little more about the world and about me and about the connections that I so revel in.

Sheep is Life

Here is how I spent four days last week celebrating sheep.  Dying, carding, spinning wool, felting slautering sheep, cooking mutton and fry bread.  Lots of material for yarns weather you spin a yarn or weave a yarn....write a yarn or tell a yarn....Churro wool..lovely natural colors.

Or hunt down the weeds and herbs and roots and leaves that give the yarn more color...it's all about detail.

Time out for lunch

Pulling, carding, spinnng, felting- all a part of the story and getting the tension right.  Reworking it when you don't get it right.

The setting counts too.

Simple Acts of Compassion

Here we are, Steve and I at the end of our 28 mile uphill climb on our road bikes on May 12.  It was a exhilarating ride and we took a moment at the top to take this photo and enjoy the endorphen high.

Soon after, we were headed back down the canyon rim thinking about the hot tub, a glass of wine and dinner with freinds.  Little did we know...

We were coasting down a winding 8% grade when I heard a groan behind me.  I stopped to check and found Steve unconscious on the pavement, ten feet from his bike.  I will save the traumatic details for another time.

This blog is a thank you to everyone who stopped to help, although they will likely never see it... There was no cell phone coverage at the site of the accident.  While I held Steve's hand hoping for life to return, complete strangers took over.  Someone drove out to call an ambulence.  Someone else guided traffic.  One young man stopped and gently bandgaged his head.  A family with a toddler in tow gave up 4 hours of their two- day weekend vacation to stay with me, supplying water and comfort.  Others stopped to help but when they realized they could not do anything more, they left.  They did not stay to gawk.

Two poeple, I don't even know their names, traced us later in the hospital, called to find out how we were doing.

I have always believed in the goodness of human beings everywhere.  These small acts of kindness and humanity made a huge difference in my life that day and ultimately in my husband's road to recovery.

This is a thank you to those who helped that day and to those of you who have ever stopped to give support to a stranger.  It is a reminder to me to be kinder and more helpful then I might have been before this accident.   I hope this will inspire you to do the same.  Caught up in our own daily lives we often forget how great a difference we can make with a small act of kindness for a stranger.

I know it has all been said before but a reminder doesn't hurt.  Steve and I will not soon forget, not only the support from strangers, but the healing messages, meals and kind thoughts from freinds and family around the world.

Another piece of the rug: herding

Before life was on hold for a week or so after Steve's biking accident, I had another lovely adventure in the name of research.  And another day of sharing the canyon with friends.

Use those canyon walls to make the herding a little easier.

This scarecrow...sometimes sprayed with cheap cologne in hopes of scaring not crows but coyotes, mountain lions, bear away from the corral.

This little guy born yesterday needs to learn how to suckle...Mom needs a lesson too.

He is too young to get up the canyon on his own so he goes in a sling on the herders shoulder.

And they're off!

Some favorite snacks along the way...too much can make a sheep's stomach bubble...not good. 

Almost at the top!

This sheep herder always knew where to catch a little shade.

Nothing can quite describe the beauty of a herd of sheep flowing through the canyon...reminds one of the joy that is to be had in life even after the trauma of a horrific accident.  We are lucky to live in Chinle and to share in the life here...it is healing.

In the Name of Research: Cleaning the Wool

Yes, I could be cleaning up that manuscript or cleaning the house but cleaning the wool we sheared last week only happens once a year so off I go.

An old bed spring makes for a simple tool to shake out the bits of dirt and cactus and sticks.  Pretty fundamental.

This part shouldn't be that difficult and still I am sure I am not getting it right.

 But with 125 pounds of wool, you'd think I might catch on after a while.

Must get it all done and off to Gallup today since the price is up from 15 cents/lb to 50 cents/lb.  Just gas money.

The buyers will wash the wool but some of us can't wait for the next step:  carding.

One generation teaches the next...the way it has always been done since Spider Woman gave the Dine people the gift of rug weaving.

Nali(grandma), fingers itching to get to the final projects, does some hand spinning.

  Meanwhile I am itching to get back to my loom.

Stuff I Collect: Wires

OK, I have already admitted to collecting "stuff.  I confess that I might be headed toward a house full of newspapers and cats along with other treasured items.

For example I have been fascinated with old wire since I lived in Malawi and saw what the children there could make out of scraps of wire and other found objects.  In fact I enjoy all found object art.  I have an affinity for anything that involves recycling, imagination and creativity.

Imagine my delight in finding that there are pieces of old wire everywhere I go out on the mesa behind my house.  I come back home everyday with handfuls.  I am sure that someday I will do something great with these scraps that come in all shapes and sizes and textures.  Or maybe just create a photo album of these unique shapes.

In the meantime they pile up in my garage(my husband got tired of the pile that grew but the day in the laundry room that doubles for craft room, sewing room and storage area for skis, tools ect.

These photos do not do my collection justice.  I am sure I have more or maybe my husband managed to toss some out?  You see I collect wood too but that is another story.  The Corona box?  All Steve's.

New delight when I found these works of found object art at the Dine community college student art show in Tsaille.  All wire!

And then this.  A photo of a Galimoto sent to me from the mom of a friend who taught my book Galimoto back in the 90s and had children make their own found object art.

Lovely when your books just keep coming back to you in so many gratifying ways.

And all those wires I am saving?  I am sure this summer I will make some garden sculptures and wind chimes.  The wire comes in handy for practical purposes too...hanging the humming bird feeder or hanging flower basket or training those vines in my garden.

And hey that little book about wires is still selling like hotcakes!  I lug my wire sculptures to schools around the country.